The End of World as it Never Happened: 2012 in Review

Every year has its own share of trouble with it. Some years face dictators, others face earthquakes or tsunami. But once in a while a year comes that has to face revolts, hurricanes, political turmoil, liberation, protest and imminent threat of apocalypse. And only few years in entire history were able to pull through all this Gangnam Style.If 2012 blames 2011 for its share of troubles, it won't be entirely wrong. 2011 gave everyone a year taste of true utopia People across the globe came out for their rights. In fact even before 2012 assumed seat in office, it had a mild heart attack.

Just like it feels to paint a bulls-eye on the back of a bull, that is quietly grazing on the banks of river filled with piranha, 2012 came in cautiously.2012 began with where 2011 left off. Most of the religions and Hollywood had agreed with the Mayan sculpture that 2012 is where the buck stops. A large bulls-eye was painted on planet earth inviting all aliens and asteroids to give it a try. Priest were clearing their throats preparing for a massive 'I told you so...'And so after having featured in multiple faiths, Hollywood and countless dreams, this celebrity year began. 2012 was a lot of cautious about his presence And hence, baring a few incidents, the first two months went without trouble.Its first real incident began in the month of march with the end of print version of Britannica encyclopedia. The sudden burst of internet exploded knowledge faster than their 244 years of collective experience.July was a month to rejoice once more when CERN announced the discovery of Higgs 'the god' Bosom particle. It was a tiniest moment of triumph for the entire mankind. It could enjoy its full on glory only until... A few days later there a massive outage of electricity in Gurgaon threw 620 million people in dark. Obviously how many of those 620 million actually had a legal connection is a different story altogether. However, there was a relief that Gangnam style was to the rescue of the millions stranded in darkness.In the month of August, human curiosity led them directly on the surface of Mars. The Mars Rover 'Curiosity' will explore its surface and send the data back to earth.Whatever the Mayans may say, in the month of May however, my life as I knew it ended. I accidently got married to my long time girlfriend and the next couple of months passed in a blur with no connection with human world whatsoever. I also changed the coast in India and from West India landed in South India.In the month of September The United States of America had a tiring time defending their first amendment as series of attacks targeted their embassies in other part of the world.In the month of October, as we reached closer to the date of the End of the world a giant leap for mankind was taken by Australian Skydiver Felix Baumgartner. It was a real giant leap as he plummeted towards the ground from the stratosphere (39 KMs above in space)While the world was bracing itself for the end of the world coming soon, a massive hurricane Sandy killed at-least 209 people in Bahamas, Caribbean, United States and Canada. Just as it was wreaking havoc in the west coast, an outsourced version of the hurricane hit Chennai in India called Neelam.As November dawned, one of the first unique usage of Twitter came to light when Israel army tweeted their first attack against Hamas. In the same month, Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist of 26/11 was finally hanged until dead.This year took its toll on many prominent people including Bal Thackeray, Jaspal Bhatti, Dara Singh, Rajesh Khanna and Yash Chopra passed away.As the year came to an end, December showed India its true horror image as a poor girl from Delhi was brutally raped and killed in the process. The Indian government showing their patented mismanagement decided to tear gas and water shed innocent protesters. Midst the politics and pseudo speech giving, the victim could not live to see the new year making the mind scream for the worlds end.The world did not end in 2012 or maybe it did, maybe it did, just as we know it. 2012 was brutal in all the sense, yet it came with a wake up call. It did bring with it a lot of things for retrospection. It showed people that there can be utopia if they are strive together. The work of 2012 is not over, just like the smart writer who leaves the reader guessing in the end, 2012 is just moving on. He has given everyone a choice for the future. How do you see your coming years is something you have to choose and only you.That's it from me this year. The following articles are the best of Sidoscope in 2012. Until next time then, see you next year.

Siddhesh Govind Kabe is a storyteller and globetrotter. When his plan to become a mad scientist did not work out, he chose the next best thing- writing stories. He writes science fiction and fantasy stories in different mediums. Born in the cultural city of Pune, Maharashtra he currently lives in London with his wife Deepika. He is an Engineer by accident but compensates for that by writing satire and stories. His daily job includes a lunch-box, a computer and other unimportant things.

When not writing, he is often seen cycling in hunt for good coffee or having pointless argument with random people on varied subjects. He can be reached on twitter @_siddhesh or his websitehttp://www.siddhesh.co.in